As part of the “Maya Living Legacy Series”…
About the presentation: Challenges and opportunities for the Ich Kool (Milpa Maya), as a member of the GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems) The inclusion of the Ich Kool (milpa) as a member of the GIAHS was the result of the intense work by people in academia and practitioners, milperos. After at least 2 years of intense and hard evaluations (https://www.fao.org/giahs/become-a-giahs/designation-process/en/#:~:text=FAO%20member%20countries%20or%20other,be%20borne%20by%20the%20applicant), FAO, the organization that grants the recognition, decided to include the milpa Maya in the select group of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage systems in 2022 (see https://www.fao.org/giahs/giahsaroundtheworld/designated-sites/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/milpa-maya-peninsular/detailed-information/en/). In our conversation some details of the evaluation will be discussed, and we will discuss what are the challenges ahead in order to keep the membership in the GIAHS.
About the presenter: Francisco, a Yucatec Maya, holds a PhD in Biology with emphasis on Agroecology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was the 4th President of the University of Quintana Roo and founding President of the Intercultural Maya University of Quintana Roo, 2007-2015, where he is full professor since 2015. In the early years, his research focused on understanding the ecological processes behind the structure and function of populations of soil-borne plant pathogens in traditional agroecosystems, from a Chemical Ecology point of view. Nowadays his research focuses on understanding the processes behind the thinking of Maya farmers that explain the sustainability of their food systems, as a way to construct reliable methods for intercultural co-creation of knowledge, scientists working together with Indigenous peoples.